Pathways and Toastmasters - problems and solutions

 

The problem is the language. Toastmasters tells us to use easily understood language, but uses words which nobody who I know uses in everyday life. I never talk about a pathway in education, only a course. I don't talk about electives. I talk about options. Unless I am climbing Everest, which I have never done, I don't use the word basecamp. On a website I might use the word first page, home page, or page one. I never use the word transcript. I might use the word homework, or task, or written work.

I could not use all these technical terms in my secondary languages of French or Spanish or German. So it seems challenging to expect these words to make sense to all my club members whose first language is Chinese, Cantonese, Tamil, Japanese and Vietnamese.

Large numbers of people cannot cope with everyday words such as there and their, and using the verb to be, and the past tense. Is it realistic to expect them to cope with the combined challenges of a computer system, on top of jargon like table topics, and initials like VPE and DTM!

Plus many people have joined because they lack confidence!

The two magic phrases for me are: little and often, and, do it now, and five minutes a day.